FC Koln 2-4 RB Leipzig: Leipzig jump to third place with strong away win at Cologne

RB Leipzig knew they needed a win Monday against FC Koln following positive results obtained by both Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen. Julian Nagelsmann fully delivered despite playing on the road at RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne.

Goals from Patrick Schick, Christopher Nkunku, Timo Werner and Dani Olmo lifted Liepzig to the win here, their second in their last two matches. Jhon Cordoba and Anthony Modeste found the back of the net for the hosts.

Despite Leipzig’s dominant win, the hosts got off to a better start and only needed seven minutes to break the deadlock. Cordoba pounced on a rebound from Peter Gulacsi and netted the first goal of the match. The talented striker could’ve added another one with a header, but Gulacsi was there to deny the attempt.

Leipzig’s first real dangerous sequence ended in a goal. Angelino crossed the ball from the left and his delivery found Schick. The former Roma prospect nodded the effort home to make it 1-1. As if that wasn’t enough, Cordoba left the game with an injury, and Christopher Nkunku made it 2-1 just before the break with a beautiful chip over Timo Horn following an assist from Konrad Laimer.

Koln tried to push the lines forward as soon as the second half started, but Leipzig made it 3-1 just five minutes after resumption of play. Werner took full advantage of a long ball from Gulacsi and ran unchallenged into the box before slotting it home past Horn. Gulacsi also made history with the assist – it was the first time a goalkeeper got directly involved in a goal during the current Bundesliga season.

Modeste gave Koln another lifeline with a 25-yard shot that went past Gulacsi, although Dayot Upamecano could have stopped the French forward quickly before he turned on his own and blasted an unstoppable shot. Dani Olmo, however, restored the two-goal advantage and closed the game out for the Leipzig side.

With the win, Leipzig took control of third place in the standings, although Monchengladbach and Leverkusen remain quite close – the race for a UEFA Champions League berth keeps getting hotter and hotter. Meanwhile, Koln are in 11th place with 34 points. They can’t get complacent since they only sit seven points ahead of the 16th-placed team, Dusseldorf, with five games left in the schedule.

Match Report

Koln: Horn (5); Schmitz (4) (Jorge Mere (-), 75’), Leistner (5), Czichos (5), Katterbach (4); Shkiri (6), Hector (6); Kainz (5) (Drexler (6), 58’), Rexhbecaj (4) (Thielmann (5), 58’), Jakobs (6) (Terodde (-), 75’); Cordoba (7) (Modeste (6), 24’)

RB Leipzig: Gulacsi (6); Mukiele (5), Klostermann (5), Upamecano (4), Angelino (6); Sabitzer (6), Laimer (7) (Adams (6), 59’); Dani Olmo (6) (Forsberg (-), 84’), Nkunku (7); Schick (6) (Haidara (5), 68’), Werner (7)

Goals: Cordoba (1-0, 7’), Schick (1-1, 20’), Nkunku (1-2, 38’), Werner (1-3, 50’), Modeste (2-3, 55’), Dani Olmo (2-4, 57’)

Referee: Christian Dingert

Yellow Cards: Leistner, Drexler (KLN); Forsberg (RBL)

Red Cards: None